“He’s ready” the mom sobs to the doctor as he steps into the room. The wary child assesses his surroundings, his fear and comfortableness growing quickly. The room, almost all aluminum besides the wall and cabinets, looks futuristic. It smells of rubbing alcohol, which is used to sterilize the tools and wipe down any and all places.
A light glistens across the room as the doctor unsheathes his syringe and slowly presses it deliberately into Thomas’s left arm. The doctor squeezes the thumb plunger and the numbness rushes into the unwilling boy.
His senses dull, blurring his vision. He wonders if he'll survive the surgery.
With the boy numb and almost asleep now, the doctor walks to the window by the door and shuts the blinds and the people in the hallway can no longer see.
“What are you going to do to me?” Thomas asks the doctor in a drowsy tone
“Nothing,” replies the doctor “now follow me.” The doctor leads Thomas into what he thought was the supply closet - but it wasn't. When he entered the room he saw a back door leading to a long narrow road.
The doctor explains “Exit the building through here, then walk the road outside East. It will take quite some time but you will eventually reach the train station and once there take the train straight into Manhattan.” Without a word Thomas runs out the door and follows the road.
Thomas felt like he had been running forever when he decides to slow down and start to walk. He realizes that he was a very lucky kid. One of the few lucky ones that got the doctor that would help him and keep him from being hurt by what his mom agreed to let them do. He shook off the thought and kept walking and in no time at all he reached the train station. He did just as the doctor told him and rode the train East all the way into Manhattan.
When he got there it was a whole different place from his little hometown in Pennsylvania, there were cars packed into the streets and people crammed onto the sidewalks. Everywhere he looked all he could see was a sea of people walking this way and that way, never having even the smallest bit of organization to their movement.
Not knowing what to do Thomas decides to just wander with the crowd, left, and right, and this way, and that way, in a rushing river of people. When suddenly everyone vanishes, and he is left alone. Wondering what happened he looks around and sees that he is standing in the middle of the street, and there is a bus stampeding towards him. The world seems to move in slow motion. He hears a man from the sidewalk shout
“Watch out!” But it was too late. Scared he clenches his eyes shut.
